Assessment of the Natural Radioactivity and its Radiological Hazards in Stream Sediments at Gulf of Al Aqaba, Sinai, Egypt.

Ibrahim, M. E.; Walley ElDine, N.; EL-Shershaby, A.; EL-Bahi, S. M.; Ali, N.

doi:10.21608/jsrs.2015.19946

Assessment of the Natural Radioactivity and its Radiological Hazards in Stream Sediments at Gulf of Al Aqaba, Sinai, Egypt.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Nuclear Material Authority, Egypt.

² Physics Department, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University, Heliopolis, Egypt

³ Faculty of women for Arts, Science and Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/jsrs.2015.19946

Abstract

Specific activities and distribution of natural radionuclides gamma emitting from²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in stream sediment samples were calculated. The samples were collected from different locations from western port of Gulf of Al- Aqaba have been carried out using the high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The activity concentrations of most samples are higher than the permissible level for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K. The radium equivalent (Ra_eq), the external hazard index (H_ex) and effective dose rate were estimated for the radiation hazard of the natural radioactivity. The calculated values are higher than the recommended limit. The harmful radiation effects are posing to the public and tourists going to the area under investigation.
Also the specific activities of the samples were calculated using radiometric analysis with NaI(TI) detector, the obtained results from the two techniques confirmed each other. Consequently, this area is not safe for use as different activities.

Keywords